Chantal Veugen was born and raised in Nederweert (1969). Since 2000 she works and lives in Maastricht. This historical city and the surrounding nature are giving her peace and inspiration.

Education

She studied at several Art and Design Academies
- Academy for Fashion and Textile design
- Design Academy department Interior design
- Art Academy department for Jewellery and Product design
During her study she stayed several months abroad. She studied at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Finland and at Kent Institute for Art and Design in Rochester, England.

In 1997 she graduated at the Art Academy in Maastricht. Her final work was nominated for the Academy award.

Inspiration

After her graduation her dream come true and she travelled a year and a halve around the world on her own. She is fascinated by dead and transistorises. A subject which is also visible in her artwork. Other interest of her are spirituality, rituals, authenticity, cultures, traditions, and nature. During her trip she visited different places that relate to those interest. She visited the Hopi Indians in North America, The day of the dead and the mummy museum in Mexico, the cremations in Varanasi in India, the rock graves in Sulawesi and ritual burials in Sulawesi and Bali in Indonesia, Funeral places in Kiwi Australia, Hiroshima and the O-Bon festival in Japan, and the terracotta army in China.

Ideas

Her journey was a voyage of discovery and it made a big impression on her. It gave her a new view and awareness of the world around her. When she retuned home she had lost her interest to make art. Her idea was that art is already present in our lives; you just need to see it. It is the art of life itself. By being very aware, looking at the ordinary things around us. She started a photo diary “seeing the beauty of an ordinary day”. Those pictures were al taken from and inside her apartment. Photo’s taken from everyday things, things you normally pass bye. Because the idea of the image is already saved in your mind. Through the memory or identification it is difficult for us to look at daily things in a different way. With her photography it’s like she puts a frame around those things so that it becomes visible to others. During the process of making the photo diary she noticed that she made a lot of picture from the gutter. That is visible when she opens the window because she lives on the top floor. The beauty of the life inside this rain gutter fascinated her. And made more picture’s. Some times a picture reminded her of a river in Australia of a mountain in Scotland. This tiny part of nature inside this gutter holds the whole world. Isn’t wonderful how everything is connected.

Image

She works in detail and abstractly because it takes away the memory and identification. People will take a better look, what is that I see. In every picture you can discover something new, something you didn’t see at first. She is looking for perfection but it is never there the way she liked it to be. Even when she is tend to replace a leave because it would be better for the picture she doesn’t. Accepting the things the way they are and discovering that in the imperfection lays the perfection. That is the challenge. That is fascinating. The pictures are not manipulated or changed by Photoshop. The picture is printed as it is taken. A few times the picture is places up side down because it intensifies and alienates the image.

Language

The combination of image and lyrics is typical of her work as an artist. After the image is printed she looks at the photo and writes her own lyrics to it. It reflects her own thoughts at that moment of what she sees into the picture at that time. The image and the lyrics are open for own interpretation, she doesn’t want to dictate. She feels the lyrics strengthens the image and the other way around. Al do she grew up in Limburg she writes mainly in English. Maybe because she finds it more poetic, also influenced by television and music. Limburgs isn’t an official language but it is to her and Dutch feels as much an foreign language to her as English. Probable through her travels and living abroad she sometimes things in English and that’s why it comes to surface spontaneously when she looks at the picture.

Presentation

Her book was shown during the exhibition Printing maters in Witte de with in Rotterdam.
Regular she presents her work at Art Markets true out the country
- Modern Art Market Thorbeckplein in Amsterdam For the exact date please send an e-mail
- Art Market at Volkspark in Enschede
- Art Market at O.L Vrouwenplein in Maastricht
- Art Market in Nijverdal
She also organises her own projects. Do you want to keep informed about her activities please send an e-mail to: c_veugen@hotmail.com
It is also possible to visit her studio, please make an appointment before hand.